gail dyer

Profound words from George Brown so many years ago. This is the second day of the ACEL Conference 2007. It was a treat to listen to Peter Senge this morning. His message was basically “learning is not teaching” and as educators we need to find a way to reach kids and meet them in their reality because at present there is a misfit between their reality and schools.

How can we know what kind of world kids are growing into? Things are changing so rapidly. John Connell made the comment that by 2020 the volume of information on the Web will be doubling every 40 mins. How does learning the names of all the rivers in NSW rate in a kids world? Why learn something like that when you can Google the answer in a trice?

How relevant is what and how kids are being taught? Heidi Jacobs promoted the idea of learning about that which is timeless and utilising that which is timely. She advocates talking, talking and more talking in the classroom. Senge’s Theory of the U promotes thinking and acting at deeper and deeper levels.

John Connell talked about how Web 2.0 and all its tools have changed the relationship between teachers and students. Isn’t it timely because now we have the chance to develop truly meaningful relationships as the boundaries between us are becoming so blurry. Who teaches? What is to be taught?

We need to listen to the kids. At our school the mantra is “Do It! Talk it! Write it! Read it! Very powerful, Web 2.0 tools, social software, making games and a variety of other digital technologies are being used to promote this and give the kids a chance to lead the learning and to co-create knowledge with their teachers.